Conquering Complexity: Jerry Manas Interview
Bud Bilanich, aka The Common Sense Guy, interviewed me recently on the topic of Conquering Complexity, through simplicity, clarity, and focus. I've come to realize that all of my work, whether writing about lessons from Napoleon or exploring how to manage the gray areas, centers on this theme. Hope you enjoy the interview. It runs about 45 minutes or so...

Proof-of-Concept Testing
Internet Initiative Japan adapts its green data center design with US market trend of ambient air cooling and shifts into proof of concept ahead of commercializing new container data center product. ...... "They will build a modular data center with a cooling system that directly uses outside air, and operate it for one year starting in February 2010, with the aim of commercialization. This

Open Innovation Requires Collaborative Culture
The director of the Colworth Science Park in the UK discusses the role that collaboration has in creating an environment of innovation. In this campus, academia, corporations, and experts are integrated and focus on the processes that enable ideas to be commercialized. ...... "We believe that science is a contact sport, so we must develop the right facilities for researchers to interact on a

Project Manager's are Motivators
<!--StartFragment--> Many times you may need to be the team’s top motivator. Projects are hard. They all have their challenges. So, here is a lesson from history in persistence. Feel free to share with your team members who need it… "He failed in business in ’31. He was defeated for state legislator in ’32. He started another business in ’33. It failed. His fiancée died in ’35. He had a

SpinOff and Divestitute IT Projects
Not all IT projects are growth, efficiency, or talent enablers. Periodically, IT needs to support divestiture or spin-offs. These types of projects often can involve segmenting / securing the divested business in the existing enterprise systems, so that temporary IT services can be extended for a grace period. At some point, the divested business is fully separated from the systems. These